View full sizeA police officer uses a new dispatch system that has experienced some glitches as noted in a new Portland audit. Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian/File

Portland's public safety technology project -- which includes replacing the police and fire emergency dispatch system, upgrading aging police and fire radios and modernizing computer records -- is overbudget and late, a new city audit says.

The entire project has exceeded its budget by $9 million and the completion date is now three years later than scheduled.

As of July 2012, total costs were $80 million, up from the $71 million projected. The deadline initially set for the end of 2012 is now December 2015.

Only one part of the project, the emergency dispatch program, was completed on time and within budget, but the audit found that the initiative also was beset by problems.

City officials lacked key information when estimating the overall project costs and ignored expert opinions, the audit found. A quality assurance consultant reviewing the project had raised red flags about spending projections as early as 2008, but they went unheeded.

"If project costs continue to increase, the city must find additional resources, reduce the scopes of projects or take other actions," the audit said.

City auditors blamed "inconsistent management," partly due to high turnover in project managers and undefined roles for its project leaders and steering committee, made up of the police and fire chiefs, emergency dispatch director, city's chief technology officer and two citizens.

"It's a significant dollar-value program with significant public safety impact," said Drummond Kahn, the city's director of audit services. "That can present risks and makes it an important project to examine."

Kahn said some of the problems mirror the same ones that a 2010 city audit highlighted on another big city overhaul. That one involved Portland's controversial software system for finance and payroll called SAP, with a price tag that ballooned from $14.2 million to $47.4 million.

"Despite repeated recommendations from outside quality assurance specialists and
the lessons learned from other major City programs, the City was unable to
effectively oversee this significant, but expensive undertaking," said City Auditor LaVonne Griffin-Valade, in a prepared statement.

The two largest drivers of the increased public safety project's costs are the upgrade to the Police Bureau's criminal information database and improvements to the Fire Bureau's computer system.

Among the audit's findings:

*Estimates to upgrade the police database to a new Regional Justice Information Network have nearly doubled, from $7 million in 2008 to more than $12 million by July 2012.

In October 2008, a city-hired quality assurance consultant had cautioned that the cost estimates for the regional network appeared arbitrary and too low.

The go-live schedule for the new regional network has been extended seven times, from late 2010 to November 2014.

*The costs of upgrading the Fire Bureau's computer software system increased about $1.5 million -- from $500,000 to nearly $2 million. The upgrade was extended four times, with its completion date pushed back to December 2015.

*Projected costs for the office overseeing the public safety project ballooned from $2 million to $6 million because staff doubled from five to 10 positions and the various upgrades were extended.

*Improvements to the police and fire radio systems were intended to be a regional effort, but turned into a city-only project after Portland was unable to secure funding from other cities. The upgrades have had four different project managers since 2008.

*The overhaul of the dispatch system has suffered multiple glitches, as previously reported by The Oregonian.

Police and firefighters complained it was slow, the font size too small to read and the mobile data terminal screens shook as police drove. Many of the complaints have been addressed, but the audit criticized the city for not adequately preparing officers and firefighters for the changes.

Among the audit's recommendations: Estimate costs and project time lines based on sound research; address consultants' recommendations in a timely manner; test and properly train officers and firefighters before new technology goes live.

Jack Graham, chief administrative officer overseeing the project, said he agreed with the audit's recommendations, some of which have been adopted. Mayor Charlie Hales said he's discussed the audit's findings and recommendations with Graham and the current project manager, Jeff Baer. The audit's recommendations "will go a long way toward improving the effectiveness and success" of the project, Hales said.

Former Commissioner Randy Leonard had supervised the project for nearly a year between 2011 and mid-2012. During his tenure, he fired project director, Lisa Vasquez, who then sued the city. Vasquez contended she was wrongfully fired for being a whistleblower and "repeatedly reporting fraud, mismanagement and the misuse of public funds." The city is in settlement talks with Vasquez's lawyer.